Congratulations to the teams that survived the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs this weekend. Their reward, however, is facing a much tougher opponent on the road in the divisional round.

Saturday's winners were joined on Sunday by the New York Giants, who stopped the Atlanta Falcons cold for a 24-2 victory. The Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Denver Broncos in the final game of wild-card weekend. Track the game here.

So there’s little time to celebrate what went right, because it’s now time to quickly right everything they did wrong for a different matchup in the next round. Although the forecast seems cloudy against a well-rested, well-prepared higher seed, here’s a look at what the wild-card victors need to spoil the sunny outlook of the bye teams:

What they need to keep doing: Stay aggressive with their entire offensive playbook. Coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees have great confidence they can execute their game plan against anyone. Looking at the 49ers’ defensive prowess, but limited offensive firepower, the Saints will be focused on jumping out to a faster first-half start than they did against the Lions.

If they make San Francisco play catch-up in the second half, the Saints should feel good about their chances, Even if they have limited rushing success early, they should stick with it as way to get in the deep passing from Brees within the flow of the game.

“It was a matter of having that balance,” Payton said after his team posted a playoff-record 626 yards of offense against the Lions while calling 36 runs to complement 33 completed passes. “The running game helped us tremendously and we had some play-action. We came off it and took some shots.”

Those shots came in the form of critical second-half touchdown strikes in the 45-28 victory over Detroit. Wide receiver Devery Henderson gave the Saints their first lead with a 41-yard scoring play in the third quarter and Brees connected with wide receiver Robert Meachem on a 56-yard TD to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

Forcing those plays too early against the opportunistic 49ers (a league-high 38 takeaways) would be a mistake, so the Saints need to continue to be patient. The 49ers have had red zone issues all season, so they won’t be able to pull away unless the Saints help them out with multiple giveaways.

After the two first-half lost fumbles against the Lions that put them in a temporary hole, you can bet Payton and Brees will put a strong emphasis on ball security. That’s the only way the Saints’ offense has been stopped of late.

What they need to do better: Defend the run. The Lions opened the wild-card game against the Saints with a seven-yard run from Kevin Smith. Two plays later, they worked rookie wide receiver Titus Young around the right end for 8 yards. Despite the fact they led the game 14-10 at halftime, the Lions ran only eight more times the rest of the game.

The 49ers won’t ever give up on the run, and lean on it a lot more heavily. With Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley joined by big interior linemen, they will like their matchup with the Saints’ front four. They can pound away with Frank Gore, and relieve him with the fresh legs of rookie Kendall Hunter. They also have two speedsters at receiver, Kyle Williams and Ted Ginn, who can take advantage of New Orleans’ aggressiveness to make big plays off reverse action.

San Francisco doesn’t have a Calvin Johnson to consistently occupy the Saints’ safeties, but quarterback Alex Smith’s go-to guys, wide receiver Michael Crabtree and tight end Vernon Davis, will both require some attention downfield, depending on the situation. So the Saints will need to be stout against the run, even if it means safety Roman Harper can't creep up as the eighth man in the box as much as they would like.

What they need to keep doing: Run the ball effectively. The Giants rediscovered their dormant running game—which was dead last in the NFL during the regular season—with an ideal combination to keep their offense balanced.

Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw both had 14 carries in the 24-2 win over Atlanta and combined for 155 yards rushing. But now they need to bottle that Thunder and Lightning and take it with them to Lambeau Field. The Packers' run defense has shown some cracks of late, so New York should look to keep its backs busy.

Because of the success on the ground against the Falcons, the Giants were able to convert many manageable third downs (8-for-15). It also eased the pressure on quarterback Eli Manning and allowed him to put the game away with a 72-yard TD pass to wide receiver Hakeem Nicks in the third quarter.

To beat the Packers, the Giants need to control the clock and consistently move the chains to help keep Aaron Rodgers off the field. Running the ball that well again would ensure both happen.

What they need to do better: Force turnovers and eliminate penalties. The Giants' vaunted front four did its job against the Falcons, shutting down the run and getting to Matt Ryan for two sacks.

But they can't expect to stifle the Packers the same way, so their defense will need to create the takeaways that eluded them vs. Atlanta.

The Packers are very opportunistic and also very disciplined. Another game with seven penalties for 73 yards—which included an end zone intentional grounding from Manning that gave the Falcons their only points—would cost the Giants. They need to play a clean, physical game to upend the reigning Super Bowl champions in a hostile road environment.

What they need to keep doing: Let Tim Tebow throw deep. The highlight of Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas streaking downfield for the 80-yard game-winning overtime touchdown in the 29-23 victory over the Steelers will be seen over and over again heading into the Patriots' game. But equally impressive were the pass plays Tebow made in the first half to set up the opportunity to steal one from Pittsburgh.

Doing his best impression of fellow former Georgia Tech star Calvin Johnson, Thomas also delivered 58- and 51-yard receptions. But don’t forget that Tebow also found his underneath targets for key gains—a 30-yard TD to wideout Eddie Royal and a 40-yard completion to tight end Daniel Fells.

Considering he turned 10 completions into 316 yards against the top-ranked Steelers defense, Tebow should be brimming with confidence on Saturday when he attempts to exploit the Patriots' 31st-ranked pass defense. Broncos executive VP John Elway hinted they would need to let it fly with Tebow to win in the playoffs, and that mindset can’t change in Foxborough.

At this point, the Broncos have already exceeded expectations, so why not give Tebow the chance to outduel Tom Brady in a shootout?

What they need to do better: Keep stepping on the gas. With a 20-6 halftime lead, the Broncos pulled back a bit on the wide-open passing game, trying to grind away at the clock with the running game. That approach had limited results: only three second-half points.

Not surprising, that field goal came on a drive where they took another shot to Thomas, which drew a pass interference penalty. Even worse, the conservative approach backfired when a Willis McGahee fumble helped the Steelers tie the game.

The Patriots have a cutthroat offense with Brady and will keep gunning for big plays deep into the fourth quarter, regardless of the score. The Broncos should have learned their lesson that it pays to be consistently aggressive in the playoffs.

What they need to keep doing: Pressuring the pocket to force mistakes. When the teams met in Week 6, a game the Texans lost 29-14 at Baltimore, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completed 20 passes but made them count for 305 yards. The Texans must focus on the positive side: no TDs, two sacks and an interception.

Thanks to two consistently improving rookies, outside linebacker Brooks Reed and defensive end J.J. Watt, Houston has rediscovered a new pass-rush energy that led to four sacks against Andy Dalton in its 31-10 romp. Dalton was put in the frustrating position of forcing the ball into coverage to move the ball, and it led to three interceptions.

It’s been a rocky, inconsistent year for Flacco, but what’s helped him perform better at home is the Ravens being more committed to Ray Rice as a runner and outlet receiver. The Texans need to stop the run first, and avoid being too aggressive against the pass to help facilitate a long screen play to Rice.

They must shut down Rice and Ricky Williams the way they did the Bengals' running backs (16 carries for 59 yards) so they’re in position to bring the 3-4 heat on Flacco on third down and well into the second half. Flacco has more experience than Dalton, but the Texans’ approach to him shouldn’t change.

What they need to do better: Letting T.J. Yates loose with his wide receivers. It was good to see the Texans trust Yates to take a shot to a healthy Andre Johnson, but outside of their 40-yard touchdown connection, they didn’t need to force the issue much downfield to beat the Bengals. Johnson was dealing with a hamstring injury and didn’t play in the Week 6 loss at Baltimore. So the Ravens’ cornerbacks will be tested a lot more next week.

The Texans could afford to be mostly conservative with Yates (11-for-20, 159 yards) against Cincinnati because running back Arian Foster was dominant (24 carries for 153 yards, two TDs). They can’t count on that against Baltimore, which stuffed Foster (15 carries for 49 yards) in the first matchup.

Dump-offs to Foster and medium routes to Johnson and his tight ends won’t put Yates in position to succeed. The Texans must show the ability to stretch the field to give Foster more room to run, and that requires their athletic offensive line to keep Yates well protected in the face of the Ravens’ league-best pass rush.

Houston may not be able to win up much front against Haloti Ngata in the running game, so it must at least focus on slowing down Terrell Suggs off the edge, even if it requires extra blockers. The hope then will be that Yates uses his mobility, buy the needed extra time and take his shots. The Texans will see an aggressive 3-4 that will try to rattle Yates, but their only chance to win the rematch is allowing the rookie to fearlessly fire away.